Discovering the Holy Cross Life, the South African Way

I am visiting our South African Brothers at Marya uMama weThemba Monastery in Grahamstown, South Africa. I traveled here a week ago with Br. Robert James Magliula, our Superior, and Daniel Ludik, the Prior of our South African monastery.

They had both been involved the week before in the three-day in-person meeting of our Council of the Order of the Holy Cross. OHC's Council had met at the Linwood Spiritual Center in Rhinebeck, NY, just far away enough from Holy Cross Monastery to be unconcerned by the daily goings-on of a house of our Order.

Br. Robert James is making a one-month visitation to the Grahamstown monastery. I am tagging along for two weeks before returning to West Park. This is the last of our four houses that I hadn't seen yet and my first visit to South Africa. The trip from Holy Cross Monastery to Marya uMama weThemba Monastery takes 21 hours if all goes well. The time difference with West Park is 7 hours. The jet lag bothered me a bit for three days or so.

It is a strange and comforting thing to visit another house of our Order for the first time. One experiences the displacement of another location and culture and the familiarity of the monastic life and the Holy Cross ethos. Within a few hours of being at Marya uMama weThemba Monastery, I felt at home while in a country that is entirely new to me.

Displacement and familiarity. Clockwise, from left, my first wild elephant on the way from Port Elizabeth airport to the monastery; the view from my cell: fresh flowers, compliment of my brothers, the veld and a wind turbine a the top of the ridge; a familiar face and t-shirt, Br. Roger and I showing up in the same t-shirt commemorating our marching together in the People's Climate March in New York, in September 2014.

This house sings the Camaldolese divine office (like Mount Calvary Monastery in Santa Barbara, CA. The liturgical schedule is a bit different (it starts earlier with Vigils at 6 a.m. and concludes earlier with Compline sung right after supper. But the way of doing things feel familiar with an emphasis on beautiful simplicity, common sense and reasonable comfort.

Still, the climate, the landscape, the people, the flora, and fauna remind me "we're not in New York anymore!" It is summer here. Grahamstown is not far from the Indian Ocean and the weather is changeable. In a week's time, I have experienced sun and warmth, fog and rain (the latter particularly welcome as the Eastern Cape province experiences a drought). But at all time, there is a breeze or a gale blowing. One of the ridges surrounding the monastery is the site of a wind farm. Eight giant wind turbines are a constant visual reminder that the wind is blowing. I actually enjoy their presence and their contribution to a sustainable energy system.

The gardens surrounding the many low-lying buildings of the monastery create a respite from the constant breeze. I love seeing plants that are rare or exotic back home growing like weeds around us (proteas and agapanthus, for example).

It's summer here! Flowers in the garden: from top, clockwise, agapanthus in front of hydrangeas; exploding hydrangeas next to a giant philodendron; plucking up proteas from the veld around the monastery.

The birds are a constant presence too. Their calls and songs are often heard in the background, even indoors. I use the birding guide in the common room to discover who are these beauties I spot as flashes of color in-between the flowering shrubs of the garden. Sorry, I'm no good at catching pictures of the birds...

Three Brothers live here now. Br. Daniel, their Prior and Bros. Roger and Joel. They immediately made me feel right at home. I'm so glad that I finally get to see them in their home environment. Both Daniel and Roger have visited Holy Cross Monastery extensively. But I hadn't yet met Br. Joel, our Novice here.

A hundred yards uphill from the monastery stands Holy Cross School, a preparatory school for rural children that the monastery founded. Br. Robert James was its first principal for a few years when he lived here until 2013 (before he came back to West Park to become our then Novice Master). He took me on a visit to the current principal, Ms. Kary McConnachie. This is the fourth school founded in the history of our Order (Kent School in Connecticut, St Andrew's in Tennessee and St Augustine in Liberia; all still operating but now independent from our Order).

Kary took us on tour to see what's up at Holy Cross School. It's an incredibly dynamic school offering high quality at affordable cost to the families. It was exciting to see all the good that is being done there. I told Kary it was a very special treat to meet in person the staff and the children we keep praying for every week back in West Park.

Two Principals. From top, clockwise, Br. Robert James and Ms. Kary McConnachie, current Principal of Holy Cross School; Kary telling us about the current state of the school; in the hallway, after recreation, the kids are getting their multi-vitamin tablet, while Nurse Jenny McConnachie (unrelated to the Principal) overlooks the process.

Well, that's all for this week. I miss my New York Brothers but I'm delighted to spend quality time with the Grahamstown Broskis.